


The Needs of the Many

by canufeelthemagictonight



Series: Save Them All [5]
Category: Escape the Night (Web Series), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bittersweet Ending, But at what cost?, Character Death, Character Death Fix, Colleen lives, Despair, Escape the Night Spoilers, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Heroism, Hints of Mortimer/Calliope, Iron Maiden - Freeform, Protectiveness, Sad, Sad Ending, Self-Sacrifice, Spikes, Unhappy Ending, don't read if you haven't seen the first six episodes of Season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-14 06:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15383070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canufeelthemagictonight/pseuds/canufeelthemagictonight
Summary: They deserve to live. Why does someone have to die?Mortimer never thought that his quest to save ten lives would end like this, but it's too late to back out now. To protect them, he'll do anything.An Escape the Night AU.





	The Needs of the Many

**Author's Note:**

> Unlike the other stories in this series, there is no happy ending. I am so sorry. I thought long and hard about how to save Colleen (side note: AO3, she's not married to Josh anymore, keep up), and this was the only way to do it that didn't kill any other YouTubers. Forgive me.

_...one of you must be chosen by vote to forfeit their life and enter the Maiden. Once the door has been sealed and their screams have ceased, the doll will be cleansed. Choose wisely. Their death will weigh on your conscience._

Mortimer can't breathe. He stares at this _thing,_ this terrible Maiden of Madness, and he realizes that his gun isn't going to be enough to get his friends out of _this_ particular jam. This is not something he can shoot. This is an Iron Maiden. And death is the only option in front of them.

_No. It can't end like this. Think, Mortimer. Think!_

"So one of us has to commit suicide?!?" exclaims Colleen.

Joey points a shaking finger at the Maiden. "We have to choose someone right now to go inside there."

"No!" cries Teala. "We can't! Mortimer..."

Matt shakes his head. "I'm sorry, Teala," he says in a kind yet sad voice, "but I don't think Mortimer can help this time."

The hopelessness in his tone breaks Mortimer's heart. He wants to save them. He doesn't want one of these ten wonderful people to be murdered by the Maiden. _There's another way,_ his mind insists. _There's got to be another way._

"I'm stepping down," announces Manny, stepping off the platform that the Maiden is on. "Don't wanna get murdered."

"Any volunteers?" Nikita asks.

Colleen looks at her as if she's lost her mind. _"Hell_ no!"

"I mean, I'm the Daredevil," stammers Roi, "but that's a box! With spikes!"

"You remember how on the map it said that there will be blood on our hands?" Safiya reminds them, and Mortimer _remembers,_ he remembers the dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach as he read those words. He exchanges horrified glances with Calliope, who looks as though her world is about to die.

Manny says what they're all thinking. "This is what they meant."

Mortimer doesn't want to hear the rest of this sickening conversation. He tunes them out, focusing instead on the sound of his heartbeat, which thumps in his ears like the sound of approaching doom. He's saved four of these people. He's cheated death for so long. He doesn't want his efforts to be in vain.

They're pleading their cases. Jc is talking about all the puzzles he's solved. Maybe if Jc was a bloody corpse on a knife wheel right now, Mortimer wouldn't be having this crisis of faith.

And yet...he doesn't regret it.

He'd do it again in a heartbeat.

_They deserve to live. Why does someone have to die?_

He thinks of his mother. He thinks of her screams of terror as the clowns threw her over the balcony. Her death was five hours ago, but it's stuck in his brain as if it just happened two seconds ago. _I bet I could've saved her, if I tried..._

He tunes back into the conversation just in time to hear Colleen say "I really think you need me to get to the end." The Disco Dancer is trying to stay calm, but there's a shred of anxiety in her voice. He recognizes it as the same shred of anxiety that was present in his mother's voice when she told the group to just enjoy the carnival. _Oh, God, no, not again, I don't want to go through that again..._

Wait.

There is _one_ way. It's an awful idea, and it won't be much fun for him, but it will save them. That is all that matters.

He steps forward. "Change of plans, guys." His tone is dull and emotionless, but better dull and emotionless than trembling with the fear that he doesn't want to show. "There's not gonna be a vote. I'll go in."

"You'll _what?"_ squawks Nikita.

"Do you realize what you're saying?" is Matt's reaction. "You're saying that you're willing to go into that box and _die!"_

Calliope rushes forwards and grabs his hand. "Mortimer, no. Don't do this."

But Mortimer has already made up his mind. "It _has_ to be me. I'm the only one here with nothing to lose. My family's gone. My mother was murdered right in front of me, and she was all I had left. No one will miss me if I go."

"That's not true!" sobs Rosanna. "We'll miss you! Mortimer, _please!"_

"But the rest of you still have people back at home," Mortimer continues. "People who _will_ miss you. I don't want one of _your_ mothers to get the news that their child was killed by a freaky medieval torture device."

Colleen's eyes water. Roi bites his lip. Matt glances at the ring on his finger.

"No." Calliope is practically squeezing the life out of his hand. "If _anyone_ should go in that thing, it's me. Not you. You're too valuable. And if you want to talk about families, I don't have anyone either. I'm an outcast. I'm—"

"—the most amazing woman I've ever met," he says softly. "You're strong, Calliope. Stronger than me. My mission is now your mission. Get them out of here. For all their sakes."

He kisses her cheek, wrenches his hand away from hers, takes a deep breath, and steps into the Maiden of Madness. Everyone is talking at once, begging him not to go, but he knows that he's making the right choice. He promised himself that he'd save them all, and he intends to fulfill that promise...even if it means he has to die.

"Goodbye, Mortimer." Joey seems to be the only one among them who has accepted Mortimer's fate (other than Mortimer himself, of course). "I'm sorry it had to be this way."

 _I'm sorry, too._ Mortimer sees the spikes, and he shudders at the thought of what he's about to go through. To make himself feel better, he thinks of his mother, and he smiles at the thought of seeing her again.

They close the door.

His screams are an involuntary reflex. There's pain in his chest, his legs, his eyes...everywhere... _please make it stop_...Calliope will save the others...Calliope will lead them out of this cursed town...won't she?

The Maiden of Madness claims its victim.

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't be sad. Believe it or not, this isn't the end for our dear Mortimer. There's still a thing called the Harp of Lazarus that they haven't used yet. As Calliope would say, all is well. See you next time!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Changing Fate](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15615576) by [Bird_Of_Scarlet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bird_Of_Scarlet/pseuds/Bird_Of_Scarlet)




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